ADC - Group which supports Hizbollah,Hamas, & suicide bombings asks Muslims :"Would you like to see positive portrayals of Arab Americans in World Wrestling Entertainment?"

MIM :The AMC should call upon the World Wrestling Entertainment to add a special category for Arabs and Muslims which includes beheadings and suicide bombings to offset the ADC concerns that the 'Arab wrestlers' are "being depicted as increasingly evil" over the coming months.

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MIM: The ADC's question as to whether people want to see Positive Portrayals of Arab Americans in World Wrestling Entertainment , begs the questions as to who wants to see WWE in the first place and if they do, if there anyone who can be considered as being positively represented in a program which is known for it's 'campy' excess and exaggeration.

The American Arab Anti Discrimination Committee is known for openly supporting Hizbollah, and Hamas. One of its members, Souheil Elia of the Florida chapter, has supported suicide bombings it forums and in interviews, stating that ..."their bodies are the only weapons they have..." In 2004 Elia spoke at an ADC events called Palestine- Perception and Reality- which was an Israel and American bashing fest. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3284.shtml

The fact that such a group is actually worried about the image of Arabs in World Wrestling Entertainment shows that their agenda is one of censorship and media intimidation, and is designed to promote themselves as an influential voice of the Arab Community as an Islamist version of the Jewish ADL.

The ADC should ask the World Wrestling Entertainment to institute a category which Arabs and Muslims excel in , such as decapitations and suicide bombings, to prevent what the ADC calls "conditioning of young people to resent and be frightened of Arab Americans, Arabs and Muslims".

"All Muhammad Hassan wanted was to coexist with his American neighbors and feel a sense of belonging. That wasn't meant to be. So now, Hassan and Khosrow Daivari are taking out their frustration in WWE.

Hassan first directed his anger at Jerry "The King" Lawler, who took exception to Hassan's anti-American rhetoric. The two squared off in a Monday Night RAW Arab-American debate, but that broke down into an ugly brawl. That event led to a match between Hassan and The King at New Year's Revolution..."

Would You Like to See Positve Portrayals of Arab Americans in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)?Then Take Action Today to Stop the Negative Storyline of Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari

BACKGROUND

On Jan. 5, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) wrote to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) regarding concerns about the depiction of Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari, two WWE characters depicted as Arab Americans. In a follow-up phone call, ADC Communications Director Laila Al-Qatami discussed the development of these characters with WWE and ADC appreciates that WWE has taken the time to consider the issues raised. However, this issue is far from being resolved and we are asking you to take positive action to stop what is planned.

During the course of the phone call, it became clear that WWE plans for these characters, neither of whom is actually Arab American, to become increasingly more "evil" over the next six months. In previously aired episodes, the characters lament increasing infringements on the civil rights of Arab and Muslim Americans. Their angry outbursts are met with boos from the audience. Over the coming six months, Hassan and Daivari will garner even further negative attention when they "turn their back on" America in response to the discrimination they feel is being directed at them. As such, ADC worries that this plot will fuel mistrust from the average American who may view these characters as representatives of all Arab Americans.

However, it was clear to ADC that WWE does listen to viewer feedback and will consider a different course for the characters, if they hear from the audience.

ACTION REQUESTED

ADC urges you to contact WWE creators Vince and Stephanie McMahon to voice your concern on this matter. We feel that original letters will carry more weight. We have drafted the following talking points to use a reference. We recommend that you use your own wording.

Talking point should includes:

1. WWE depicts wrestler Muhammad Hassan and his manager Khosrow Daivari as Arab Americans. In fact, neither is Arab American. A turban and Arabic inscriptions are used as representations of Arab American markers. When Daivari launches into tirades, viewers are led to believe he is speaking Arabic, but he is actually speaking Farsi

2. As evident by the audience's loud boos and chants of "USA," the wrestlers have already had an adverse effect on the image of Arab-American. Average viewers will equate the characters disloyalty to America as representative of all Arab Americans.

3. WWE has a responsibility to its younger, and more impressionable audiences, not to undermine the seriousness of public concern about the worsening problem of racism and prejudice towards Arabs, Muslims, South Asians, and those perceived to be. The ramification of this is tantamount to conditioning young people to resent and be frightened of Arab Americans, Arabs and Muslims.

4. Wrestling matches may be form of a theater with self-conscious displays of caricature and parody, but when audiences enter into the match, real emotions are unleashed. Mock racism can awaken real racism, and there is a danger that mock violence can result in real violence.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee: What the Record Reveals

I. Defending Hezbollah:

1. Asked by Geraldo Rivera, "How do you stand about Hezbollah and Hamas? Do you condemn them?," ADC spokesman Hussein Ibish said: "No. I think that Hezbollah fought a very good war against the Israelis, a guerrilla war..." (Rivera Live, CNBC, June 5, 2000)

4. "We are all proud of the heroic resistance of its people and their steadfastness." --ADC president Maksoud, referring to Hezbollah, ADC Times, June-July 1996

5. ADC president Hala Maksoud says she supports "the Lebanese and Palestinian resistance against occupation," and that Hezbollah is "a resistance organization engaged in the legitimate defense of Lebanese land." --Commentary, Jan.1999

6. The ADC has "campaigned against two 1997 amendments forbidding most financial transactions with state sponsors of terrorism." --Commentary, Jan. 1999

II Defending Hamas

1. "I will not call it a terrorist organization. I mean, I know many people in Hamas. They are very respectable. They don't accept violence. And I don't believe Hamas, as an organization, is a violent organization." --then-ADC president Hamzi Moghrabi, Rocky Mountain News, Nov. 27, 1994

2. "Most outrageous of all the allegations 'reported' by Symmes was his opinion that 'Hamas is a band of murderers'." --then-ADC president Albert Mokhiber, Washington City Paper, June 11, 1993

3. "We strongly urge the United States not to extradite [senior Hamas leader] Dr. [Mousa] Abu Marzook to Israel..." --ADC president Hala Maksoud, in an ADC press release, January 31, 1997

III. Accusing the U.S. of "Genocide"

1. "Embargoes and blockades are genocide." [From a "Children's March to the UN" leaflet, signed by ADC and other groups, advertising a July 1, 1998 rally]

2. Referred to "the genocidal effects of these sanctions on innocent Iraqi children, women and men" --Letter, ADC president Hala Maksoud, Washington Post, February 15, 1997

3. "While there have been levels of non-compliance by Iraq, the regime has conformed with most of the requirements to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction." --ADC press release, Nov. 9, 1997

4. "Ignoring this massive human suffering [in Iraq] is ultimately based on the racist premise that the lives of Iraqis are less than human." --ADC Action Alert, October 22, 1997

5. "It is shocking that the US would again target the long-suffering Iraqi people with lawless missile attacks." --ADC press release, January 25, 1999

IV. Anti-Semitic Statements

1. "You and I both know that Marlon Brando was quite right when he pointed out that Jews run Hollywood. The decision-makers, the play-callers, are Jews, completely out of proportion to their numbers. --ADC Los Angeles president Donald Bustany, Jerusalem Report, Oct.17, 1996

2. "Some Jews ... seem to believe that God has chosen them. And, imbued with a strong resolve by that belief, [they have] appropriated the property of others under circumstances that the rest of the world recognizes as outright theft. Three thousand years ago the Jewish people--led by Moses, Joshua, King Saul and King David--took by force the land of the people of Canaan. In this century--still led by Moses in a sense--they took by force and some unsavory diplomacy the land of the Arabs of Palestine." --ADC Los Angeles president Donald Bustany, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, December 1995

The American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee Reveals Its True Colors. On Oct. 31, Imad Hamad, Michigan regional director of the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee (and the near-recipient of an FBI award), wrote a letter to the president of the Crestwood Board of Education in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, urging him to consider making the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha a school holiday in his district. After urging the president, Ron Panetta, to "thoroughly review this matter," Hamad went on:

Rushing into decisions that involve such sensitive issues might bring serious ramifications and unexpected unhealthy consequences. This is why, we further urge the school board not to individualize the issue, and jeopardize the position of any of the fine staff of the Dearborn Heights Public Schools.

Panetta understood this passage as an ultimatum ("There is no doubt in my mind that I was threatened and then he retracted the threat. How else do you interpret 'unhealthy consequences?' What does that mean to you?") but Hamad dismissed the matter as nothing more than a "bad choice of words" and unrepentantly explained to Panetta what happened in a second letter, dated Nov. 3:

ADC's sole intention was to further inquire into the matter and make sure that your board is aware of the highly sensitive nature of the situation. The reference in the letter to "serious ramifications and unexpected unhealthy consequences" was not meant as a threat, but simply was an effort to alert the district of the wrong message that might come across to the community if this matter were to become more political, rather than educational in nature.

Hamad then attempted to turn the tables on Panetta, reports today's Detroit News, by "asking municipal and school officials in Dearborn Heights to formally investigate Panetta's role in the entire affair. Both Hamad and [ADC] Deputy Director Rana Abbas say that at a school board meeting Tuesday night, attended by 150-200 people, officials distributed a copy of the first letter, but not the second."

This incident is most instructive, for in combination the threat, the lack of apology, and the attempt to punish Panetta all point to the barely contained thuggishness of the ADC. As I have argued about another member of the ADC staff, "the media, think tanks and politicians should consider [his] record and close their doors to someone so far removed from the mainstream of the American debate." The same advice also applies to Imad Hamad. (November 6, 2003)

Dec. 22, 2003 update: On a different topic entirely, Hamad today again showed his colors, and those of the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee. Here he is, explaining to the Detroit Free Press why Arabs feel shame at the capture of Saddam Hussein: "You have to keep in mind that Saddam has been part of the region's history and political makeup for a long time. It's not easy for people to see someone who was so high up being treated this way."

Dec. 28, 2003 update: Another "interesting" statement by Imad Hamad. Asked by the Detroit News for a reaction to a new policy at the Detroit airport, starting in just over a week, to photograph and fingerprint most foreigners as part of an effort to improve border security, Hamad called the step "a waste of resources. It inconveniences visitors and will result in fewer visitors coming to the United States." Here's a challenge to Hamad and the ADC: name for me a counterterrorist step that you don't consider a "waste of resources" and an "inconvenience."

Feb. 3, 2004 update: The ADC's Michigan chapter continues to maintain its record of saying what the other, more subdued, ADC offices are presumably thinking. Today's e-mailed edition of "ADC Michigan News and Views," announces a community celebration on Feb. 5 "to celebrate the recent historical prisoner exchange between Hizbollah and the Israeli Government." (For my own views on this swap, decidedly less celebratory, see "Hezbollah's Victory, Israel's Decline.") This announcement is noteworthy because it refers to the traded Hezbollah terrorists and other assorted criminals as "heroes." Right: they are members of a group deemed a "Foreign Terrorist Organization" by the U.S. government and proscribed by U.S. law – but ADC calls them "heroes." I guess it's clear on which side ADC stands in the war on terror.

April 11, 2004 update: Back to Imad Hamad and his demand that public institutions close in commemoration of the Islamic holidays (i.e., where this entry began back in November 2003): today's Detroit News reports that Hamad believes closing government offices on Eid al-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha would "send a good message showing the unity that we like to sustain, and preserve, and advance in the city of Dearborn, the state of Michigan and in the country." To which City Councilman Thomas Tafelski replied: "The city of Dearborn will follow the state and federal holiday calendar, and until that changes, that's where I stand."